Freedom Lawyers of America

> Tommy Chong Gets Nine Months
> Posted by CN Staff on September 11, 2003 at 09:05:58 PT
> By Dan Nephin, The Associated Press
> Source: Associated Press
>
> Pittsburgh - Tommy Chong, who played one half of the dope-smoking
> duo in Cheech and Chong movies, was sentenced to nine months in federal
> prison and fined $20,000 on Thursday for selling bongs and other drug
> paraphernalia over the Internet.
>
> The 65-year-old Chong was allowed to remain free until federal
> prison officials tell him in a few weeks where he must report to prison.
>
> Chong also forfeited about $100,000 for his arrest on federal drug
> paraphernalia charges. He'll spend a year on probation after he's released
> from prison.
>
> Chong's business, Nice Dreams Enterprises, which made a line of
> marijuana bongs and pipes, was to be sentenced later Thursday.
>
> Chong pleaded guilty in May to conspiring to sell drug
paraphernalia
> and also pleaded guilty on behalf of Nice Dreams Enterprises, which did
> business under the name Chong Glass.
>
> Chong's plea came after federal Drug Enforcement Administration
> agents purchased his paraphernalia and had them shipped to an undercover
> business in Beaver Falls, a city northwest of Pittsburgh. Agents also
> confiscated his company's paraphernalia during raids of "head shops" in
> numerous states and confiscated "thousands of marijuana bongs and pipes"
in
> a raid of his Gardena, Calif., business.
>
> His plea followed a series of raids in February by the DEA in which
> at least 55 people were charged with trafficking in illegal drug
> paraphernalia. Federal officials said the investigation targeted the
> nation's biggest Internet distributors of paraphernalia.
>
> Prosecutors said Chong was the first person to plead guilty in the
> raids.
>
> The actor-comedian recently had a recurring role on Fox's "That
'70s
> Show."
>